Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

keepthetips t1_j1h9y9c wrote

Hello and welcome to r/LifeProTips!

Please help us decide if this post is a good fit for the subreddit by up or downvoting this comment.

If you think that this is great advice to improve your life, please upvote. If you think this doesn't help you in any way, please downvote. If you don't care, leave it for the others to decide.

4

JustAnotherOlive t1_j1hbbdv wrote

When I see a wall of text it will be rare that I read it and I'm sure that applies to most. People, especially nowadays, have short attention spans. If you want your message to be read in full, try to keep it concise! Go back and proof read and edit to keep things brief.

Yes, this takes more effort than just writing out your thoughts as they come, but the added exposure your message will get will be worth it!

(I'm kidding! This is a good tip.)

177

posco12 t1_j1hcfky wrote

People in corporate environments have started replaced meetings with long emails. If the email gets too long, and it is going to a larger audience, a verbal discussion is needed to explain it.

3

egasz t1_j1hcpqu wrote

That's why we have TL:DR you can read the general idea (or summary) and if you want to read the details you can go back.

TL:DR - we have TL:DR

249

chridoff t1_j1hfn6n wrote

While conciceness is good, so is detail, and if its a long post about a subject matter im interested in im personally more than willing to read all of it, and then re read to make sure ive properly understood it. People can also summarise at the end, which is useful to those who dont want to read.

27

marxshark t1_j1hp98q wrote

LPT: on the internet, be brief.

1

MickJof OP t1_j1hq5xk wrote

Replying to chridoff (#1,036,872)

Yes, detail is good as well and some posts DO require detail. But even when going into detail I would caution to not use more words than strictly necessary.
Ultimately that might still mean a longer post sometimes, and that's okay.

8

_Forgotten t1_j1hqk6e wrote

In life, be as brief as to only to convey your message.

3

drodenigma t1_j1hqk99 wrote

I'm always like that in person or online. Drives me nuts people yammering on a 30 minute convo that could be wrapped up in a few sentences. I don't like wasting people's time and don't like people wasting mine.

2

ArchdukeOfNorge t1_j1hru66 wrote

Replying to MickJof (#1,037,836)

It’s a good tip for writing in general. Partially because of how school work for writing is organized, and how it encourages higher word counts, we all mostly learned to write with fluff, and not how to be appropriately concise. There is such a thing as too concise though, I don’t want to read the equivalent of formalized radio-talk.

5

ardiebo t1_j1hsmgs wrote

The original quote seems to be from Blaise Pascal, but can't agree more on the message :)

7

YnotBbrave t1_j1hsrea wrote

“Try to be as brief as possible”->”be brief”

This entire post can be better read as “Brevity, good”

3

coyote-1 t1_j1htcau wrote

School - with its “500 word essay” requirements - trains us to ‘pad’ our writing. It takes significant effort to un-train ourselves.

6

Cup_Realistic t1_j1hus5b wrote

If it's more than 11 words I cant fuck with it.

1

Lumpy-Spinach-6607 t1_j1hw3s7 wrote

A Continuous Stream of Consciousness was not an efficacious method of clear communication, James Joyce noted sadly

0

DMoree1 t1_j1hy3ll wrote

I didn’t even read all of this.

2

FireDragon1111 t1_j1hy6na wrote

Funny you sent a wall of useless text to explain your useless LPT

1

beyondo-OG t1_j1hzk5r wrote

I don't read certain messages because of acronym abuse. You think you're being clever, but you're not.

5

Accomplished_Lynx964 t1_j1hznt9 wrote

A message needs a defined audience. Craft your message concise or detailed depending on the intended audience. I generally seek engagement from those that are detail orientated. I filter out those that are unable to engage beyond the superficial by providing context and depth.

TL;DR - Never mind ;)

3

Aggressive_Chain_920 t1_j1i0mkw wrote

Also, and imo more important is to segment your text. Reading a wall of text is just painful

4

Work4Surf t1_j1i24ha wrote

That’s a good lesson for any kind of writing.

1

MJowl t1_j1i3run wrote

Also, in real life.

1

Sqweed69 t1_j1i4zc3 wrote

If people ask for specific advice a text wall is okay. They are clearly invested enough to ask so they're going to read it.

2

rjnd2828 t1_j1i7gqr wrote

When you're in an argument on the Internet, it's best to write out exactly what you think as precisely as possible, then delete it and go do something that may actually be productive.

45

lemongroovian t1_j1ia5w6 wrote

"On the internet"? Who wrote this, my Great Aunt Joan? Oops, gotta go, I'm going to buy something on the Amazon.

1

lemongroovian t1_j1iabzf wrote

F this! Read or don't but you better know the info!

0

jupiterLILY t1_j1icbye wrote

Replying to chridoff (#1,036,872)

I think nuance is also really important and something our society seems to be losing.

Everyone wants everything black or white in 140 characters or less.

Some ideas are just bigger than that.

10

SimpleCoexistence t1_j1ifwln wrote

If I would have had more time I would have written a shorter letter.

1

bswiftly t1_j1iuswf wrote

I think this tip could have been written more concisely.

1

farrenkm t1_j1jh4ql wrote

"A word, to the efficient, is sufficient."

1

maybethingsnotsobad t1_j1jrl2u wrote

In email and business especially. Lead with the question or need FIRST.

2

newathuman t1_j1jyj3w wrote

Avoid quotes. If you need them for context, you can't write well.

1

Brandyforandy t1_j1k0ndj wrote

A well written paragraph is worth a thousand pictures.

2

JJandJimAntics t1_j1ka4zr wrote

I'm probably the one dude that just reads everything, then. The only time I can't is when it's absolutely illegible. Or they use an overabundance of slang and acronyms that I just can't keep up. Or straight up replace words with emojis like freaking hieroglyphics!

1

cyan_reynolds t1_j1kc50u wrote

Tbh, I don't usually care if someone actually reads my long detailed posts. Those who are truly interested in the topic will, and those who aren't actually interested likely won't read it anyways, nor will they usually have anything productive to add the the conversation.

1

gza_liquidswords t1_j1kfw1t wrote

This is a great tip for email as well. When I interact with my boss, I try to distill the email to 3-4 sentences at most.

2

MellySantiago t1_j1kgtg1 wrote

Replying to egasz (#1,036,652)

Slightly different angle here, I am reading a book on speed reading and one of the key points they unknowingly made was to find a tldr of anything you want to read quickly first. Having the context of how something ends let’s you more effectively focus on what’s important in getting there and what isn’t, so having that tldr can make it easier for people to read through a wall of text and find the pieces relevant to them.

It also said to read the spaces between words rather than the words themselves and your brain will just “process” the words very quickly, for anyone who is interested.

5

veotrade t1_j1klzfr wrote

But then you have to send a followup email with your second question.

1

MarioPfhorG t1_j1kpd8m wrote

I just type everything then delete most of it before sending. Heck I even did it with this comment.

1

Flair_Helper t1_j1kzsr4 wrote

Hello MickJof, thank you for your submission! Unfortunately, it has been removed for the following reason:

Your post is not a life pro tip. Advice is any guidance or recommendation concerning prudent future action. An aphorism is a short clever saying that is intended to express a general truth or a concise statement of a principle.Try r/YouShouldKnow.

If you would like to appeal this decision please feel free to contact the moderators here. Do not repost without explicit permission from the moderators. Make sure you read the rules before submitting. Thank you!

1